SOCC44 LEC 8.docx

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School

University of Toronto Scarborough

Department

Sociology

Course

SOCC44H3

Professor

Ivanka Knezevic

Semester

Winter

Description

(Finished lecture 7)
Violence in mass media
Jeffery goldstein: why we watch (2000)
Real violence generates anxiety
fictional (staged and controlled) violence has cathartic effects: it relieves anxiety
it makes a big different whether violence is stagef or controlled
-ve moral judgement of people who enoy watching real violence, abscence of moral judgement
of audiences who enjoy watching fictional violence
production reasons: popularity, low production costs, export potention
Gerner on film sequels: violent content in ent has bee increasing over the last 20 years
graphic violent content in the news has been decreasing during the same period (Mediasmarts)
Violence on mass media: effects
short term: excitment and catharsis
Long term: dessensitizatio to violnece (no longer emotionally reacts to violence) , “mean world
syndrome” (belief that the real world is more viiolent then it really is)
main cause of desentization is the exact way violence is portrayed
cause of dessensitization: representation of violence in entertainment
1. violence as humourous
2. volence as morally justified
3. abscence or supression of consequences of violence (esp indirect and l